Yahoo Finance Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) Looks Like A Good Stock, And It's Going Ex-Dividend Soon
Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 30th of August will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 13th of September.
Safety Insurance Group's upcoming dividend is US$0.90 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$3.60 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Safety Insurance Group has a trailing yield of 3.8% on the current stock price of $93.76. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Safety Insurance Group's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.
View our latest analysis for Safety Insurance Group
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see Safety Insurance Group paying out a modest 47% of its earnings.
Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.
Click here to see how much of its profit Safety Insurance Group paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. For this reason, we're glad to see Safety Insurance Group's earnings per share have risen 11% per annum over the last five years.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Safety Insurance Group has lifted its dividend by approximately 8.4% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.
The Bottom Line
Has Safety Insurance Group got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Typically, companies that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings are keeping the profits for reinvestment in the business. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. Overall, Safety Insurance Group looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.
Curious about whether Safety Insurance Group has been able to consistently generate growth? Here's a chart of its historical revenue and earnings growth.
A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
